Customer Reviews
Brilliant pop - By: curly wurly, 20 May 2006 
This is the best album I've heardin ages! Being a collection spanning Jimy Somemrville's career, it is a real mixture of old favourites & some less well known tracks. To be played loudly at all times & singing along is a must.
One of Britain's best eighties pop singers - By: Peter Durward Harris, 15 Mar 2005 The eighties are not my favorite decade when it comes to pop music. Nevertheless, some great pop music was recorded during those years, some of it by Jimmy Somerville, who was lead singer of Bronski Beat and, later, the Communards. Both of those groups are represented here but there are also some of Jimmy's solo songs, too. Jimmy's distinctive falsetto voice could not be mistaken for any other. It is worth pointing out that Jimmy was gay & this is reflectedin the lyrics of many of the original songs. I'm not sure how well Jimmy's music didin America but he was, for a while, an important singer on the British scene.
Bronski Beat had six UK hits but only the first four are included here. Hit that perfect beat (a top three hit) & Come on come on, both recorded after Jimmy left the group, are missing (presumably because this is a compilation of Jimmy's music). Two of the others also made the top three, these being Small town boy & an unlikely medley (with Marc Almond) of I feel love (Donna Summer) & Johnny remember me (John Leyton). Why made it to number six while It ain't necessarily so made the top twenty.
The Communards had a UK number one hit with Don't leave me this way, a cover of a song that had been a hitin the seventies for two different singers - Thelma Houston & Harold Melvin. Harold's version charted higherin the UK but Thelma's version went to number onein America. I enjoy all three versions but the Communards' version features not only Jimmy's excellent lead singing but also excellent vocal support by Sarah Jane Morris, a singer otherwise unknown to me.
The Communards had one other UK top five hit - another cover, this time Never can say goodbye, originally a hit for Gloria Gaynor - & one other UK top ten hit, the original song, So cold the night. Their other UK hits were You are my world, Disenchanted, Tomorrow, For a friend & There's more to love.
Jimmy had five UK hits without either group, the biggest of which was You make me feel mighty real, a top three hit. A cover of To love somebody (Bee Gees) made the UK top ten. Comment te Dire adieu (featuring June Miles Kingston) made the UK top twenty. Read my lips was a minor UK hit.
While I think that it would have been good to include the post-Jimmy Bronski Beat hits, their omission is understandable. All the essentials among Jimmy's own recordings are here, making this an excellent collection of music by one of the best British pop singers of the eighties.
Forgotten Treasure - By: , 25 Jan 2005 I'd forgotten just how good some of this stuff is! Whilst you can argue some of the stuff is a bit samey, some tracks really do stand out as classics for me - Smalltown Boy, Don't Leave Me, Never Can Say Goodbye, You Are My World & Aint Necessarily So. I think that the guy's voice is unique & listening to this CD really brought back some good memories.
Don't deny yourself this CD a minute longer! - By: , 28 Oct 2004 God, I love this CD! This music was alwaysin the background of my childhood, & I have vivid memories of Jimmy's numerous hits right through the 80's & early 90's. I don't know why I waited whole *months* after this compilation came out to buy it! I listen to it as I walk into work, & it's the best antidote to grey, dismal days & pouring rain: I just walk along encasedin my very own private disco! Just get it: you know you need it.
Brilliant! - By: , 13 Sep 2001 This album is excellent. It is a slightly updated version of the Singles Collection which is my favourite cd. So many recognisable tunes. Songs that I don't think have dated. A good one for the car to sing along to. A good one for the gym to get exercising to. From the Bronski Beat days thru' the Communards, then as a solo artist, an excellent collection - for so many people this will be their introduction to this music ...and they get all the best songs on one cd!
